Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Featured Comment
Thank you for the DELICIOUS recipe! So so good! ~Amy”
This cauliflower cheese soup is one of the best comfort soups. I love cauliflower so much more than broccoli so a cauliflower cheese soup is the best, in my opinions. If you love cauliflower, you will agree!
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Cauliflower – personally, I like to get a whole fresh cauliflower and use the stems in the soup as well. Although, you can also use pre-cut florets, frozen cauliflower florets, or even diced frozen cauliflower. Make the to thaw frozen cauliflower first and strain off any accumulated liquids.
Cheese – use mild of sharp cheddar cheese, whichever you prefer best. Do get a block of cheese and grate it yourself because pre-shredded cheese contains separators and preservatives. That causes the cheese to not melt as well or as smooth in soups and sauces.
Heavy whipping cream – for the best rich and creamy texture, the best option is to use heavy whipping cream and nothing less. If you have to use half and half, you can stir in a teaspoon or two of cornstarch into the cold half and half and then stir it into soup. That will help with thickness but not creaminess.
Gluten Free Substitution – to make this soup gluten free, you only need to make 1 substitution. Use all purpose gluten-free flour. Personally, I prefer to use 1:1 all purpose gluten free flour. Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check the labels.
How To Make Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Prepare your ingredients first! This is a pretty quick moving recipe so you don’t want to run around and scramble for ingredients.
Preheat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add oil. Add diced onion and sauté until transparent and browned. Browned vegetable base will incorporate more flavor into the soup. Make space in the center of the pot and add pressed (or minced) garlic, mix, and cook just until fragrant. Overcooking garlic can cause it to be bitter, so sauté just until fragrant.
Stir in prepared cauliflower, mix well, and let it sauté for a few minutes to get browned as well. (Add a little more olive oil if needed.)
Expert TIP: let the veggies cook undisturbed for a few of minutes to get a nice sear and then mix and let them cook again. Getting a sear on the veggies will add extra flavor to the soup!
Sprinkle flour over veggies and mix well until the veggies are all coated. Start pouring in chicken stock, while slowly stirring. This will help with smooth base that will thicken as it cooks.
Add salt and pepper, stir and bring the soup to a slow simmer over medium heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure not to boil the soup, just a low, slow and gentle bubble of simmer.
Stir in grated white cheddar cheese one handful at a time and then heavy whipping cream. Slowly stir until cheese is melted and smooth and take off heat right after.
Variations of Flavors
You can easily add meat like diced ham, like in my creamy cauliflower ham soup. Another option for meats include crispy cooked bacon, diced leftover cooked chicken like spatchcock chicken or rotisserie chicken, or leftover turkey.
I’ve added roasted garlic to this soup before and it was an amazing flavor addition.
Play around with cheeses. You can try stronger flavors like adding freshly shaved parmesan, gruyere, or asiago cheese, different cheddar cheeses, or milder ones like Monterrey Jack and mild cheddar.
You can also chop raw chicken or turkey into small cubes and cook it in the pot before cooking the veggies. Take the chicken out of the pot and use the same pot to start making the soup. Add cooked chicken back into the pot after sauteing the cauliflower.
Feel free to add some carrots, leeks, broccoli, or another mild tasting vegetable you like.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are a few ways to make this soup lighter. First, you can try adding fat free half and half instead of heavy whipping cream. It’s not as thick as heavy cream but it will add smooth creaminess to the soup.
You can also try fat free evaporated milk instead of heavy whipping cream.
You can use lighter, 2% cheese instead of the whole milk cheese.
Absolutely! You can add leftover ham with some leftover turkey meat or rotisserie chicken. Just make sure to check the meat for bones and discard the skin. Dice the meat into small pieces and follow the recipe for the soup. Best time to add the meat is while sautéing the vegetables.
Best Ways To Store and Reheat Leftovers
You can store the leftover cauliflower soup in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. Properly stored, it should last 3-4 days.
It’s easy to reheat individual portion either in the microwave or in a small sauce pot on a stove. In the microwave, make sure to use proper bowl and reheat the soup in 30 second intervals just until heated through.
On stove-top, reheat as much as you wish in a small pot over medium-low heat.
How To Freeze Cauliflower Soup?
I highly recommend that you do it without cream and cheese. Cream and many soft cheeses don’t stand up to freezing and thawing well because they tend to separate after thawing.
Cook the soup up to the point to adding cream and cheese. Take the pot off the heat and cool it to room temperature. (To cool it faster, you can set the pot of soup into a larger pan with ice and stir as it cools.)
Transfer cooled soup into a freezer container or a freezer zip-top bag. Make sure to only fill it about 2/3 of the way, allowing the soup to expand as it freezes. Get as much air out as you can, seal, label, and freeze. You can freeze cauliflower soup for up to 2 months.
Thaw slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 24 hours.
Reheat the soup in a pot and once reheated, you can add in cream and cheese as per the recipe.
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Cauliflower Cheese Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.25 lbs head of cauliflower
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Vidalia onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour*
- 3.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 oz block sharp white cheddar cheese
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare your veggies first. Dice onion and set aside. Cut cauliflower florets off and discard the bottom part of the stem ( you can use most of the stems in soup). Dice cauliflower onto small pieces. Set it aside as well. Peel garlic to be ready to press.
Grate cheese on a large cheese grater and set aside. - Preheat a medium pot over medium heat and add oil.
- Add diced onion and saute until transparent.
- Add pressed garlic, mix, and cook until fragrant.
- Add prepared cauliflower, mix well and saute for a few minutes. (Add a little more olive oil if needed.)
- Sprinkle flour over veggies and mix well.
- Start pouring in chicken stock, while slowly stirring. Add enough chicken stock to cover the cauliflower mixture.
- Add salt and pepper, stir, and bring the soup to a slow simmer over medium heat. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in grated white cheddar cheese and then heavy whipping cream. Slowly stir until cheese is melted and smooth. Take off heat.
Video
Notes
- *Gluten Free Note: use all purpose gluten-free flour. Personally, I prefer to use 1:1 all purpose gluten free flour.
Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check the labels. - Heavy whipping cream – for the best rich and creamy texture, do use heavy whipping cream and nothing less. If you have to use half and half, you can stir in a teaspoon or two of cornstarch into the cold half and half and then stir it into soup.
- Want It Thicker? If you would like to make your soup thicker, you can simply increase the amount of flour. Use 2-3 tablespoons more flour to make it thicker. You can also make it cheesier or creamier by increasing amount of cheese and/or heavy whipping cream.
- Storing: You can store cooled leftover cauliflower soup in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Reheating: to reheat individual portion either in the microwave or in a small sauce pot on a stove.
Nutrition
More Cauliflower Recipes To Try
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in August 2018.
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Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Cauliflower Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Healthy Dinner Ideas, Most Popular Recipes, Soup Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I made this soup for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious.
I am os glad you liked it!
Oh this was so good! So good on this cold day. A keeperf!
Thanks, Kat! I am so glad you liked it!
Actually, I am underwhelmed. It’s not rich or full bodied.
It’s good but not great.
Hi Renate,
If you would like you soup rich, thick and creamy, there are a couple of things you can do. You can increase amount of flour, amount of heavy whipping cream, and amount of cheese. Flour will make it thicker, of course, so you can increase it by 2-3 tablespoons.
Never got creamy just watery. I did use evaporated milk in place of heavy whipping. Which was deemed acceptable per searches.
Patricia, unfortunately evaporated milk is not a good substitution for heavy whipping cream. I even left a note about substituting it in the recipe card. If I would substitute the heavy whipping cream, I would use half and half and perhaps add some sour cream. Otherwise, results will not be creamy or rich at all.
You can freeze this but you need to do it before adding the heaving whipping cream so cook up until it says to add the heavy cream then freeze it in a storage bag or container and when you reheat add the cream and cheese.
Can You Freeze this Soup?
First time making this and it’s turning out great!I added broccoli for some color yum
Thank you for the DELICIOUS recipe! So so good!
Hello, I’d like to try this recipe and am wondering if it freezes well?
This looks so good, and easier than the recipe I’ve been making for years, which requires the use of an immersion blender to make a smooth soup. It’s good, but there’s more work involved than it looks like this recipe requires. So, I can’t wait to try it. I’m all about easy prep these days. Thanks for sharing this!
I have one quick question, though: are those homemade croutons on top? 😋
Absolutely delicious! I think next time I might add a little bacon, so easy to make too!!
Thanks, Mary!